Discontinuation of antihypertensive drugs appears to have a detrimental effect, with a recent study reporting that the risk of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) substantially increases after more than 90 days of discontinuation.

Prediagnostic statin exposure appears to be associated with a significant reduction in breast cancer-specific mortality, with the survival benefit being more pronounced in women with oestrogen receptor (ER)-positive tumours, according to a study.

ABT-981 disappoints in hand osteoarthritis trial

Jackey Suen

07 Jul 2017

The experimental drug ABT-981 fails to show significant improvements in pain and joint symptoms compared with placebo in patients with hand osteoarthritis (OA), according to a phase IIa trial presented at the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) Annual Congress 2017 held in Madrid, Spain.

“In the study, 131 patients with hand OA were randomized to receive placebo or subcutaneous injection of ABT-981 200 mg every 2 weeks for 26 weeks,” said investigator Dr Margreet Kloppenburg of the Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands. “All patients had hand OA as defined by the American College of Rheumatology criteria, along with ≥3 inflamed interphalangeal joints, patient-rated hand pain score ≥6 [on a scale of 0–10], and radiographic evidence of ≥1 erosive interphalangeal joint.” [EULAR 2017, abstract OP0168]

“Likewise, no significant differences were observed with ABT-981 vs placebo at 26 weeks in X-ray endpoints such as osteophytes and erosive joints, and MRI endpoints such as synovitis, cartilage space loss and erosive damage,” reported Kloppenburg.

In terms of pharmacodynamics, treatment with ABT-981 was associated with significant reductions in levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, neutrophils and the collagen degradation biomarker C1M at weeks 16 and 26. “We also found a low incidence of immunogenicity associated with ABT-981,” added Kloppenburg.

ABT-981 was generally well tolerated. Infection was reported by 51 percent of patients in the placebo group and 41 percent of patients in the ABT-981 group, but none of the patients had serious infections. However, ABT-981 was associated with higher rates of injection-site reaction (36 vs 16 percent), grade 2 neutropenia (14 vs 0 percent), and grade 3 neutropenia (5 vs 0 percent).

Five patients in the ABT-981 group and two patients in the placebo group discontinued treatment due to adverse events.

“However, the results of our present study suggest that targeting IL-1 may be ineffective in erosive hand OA, as ABT-981 failed to translate the pharmacodynamic improvements into better outcomes,” she concluded.

Discontinuation of antihypertensive drugs appears to have a detrimental effect, with a recent study reporting that the risk of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) substantially increases after more than 90 days of discontinuation.

Prediagnostic statin exposure appears to be associated with a significant reduction in breast cancer-specific mortality, with the survival benefit being more pronounced in women with oestrogen receptor (ER)-positive tumours, according to a study.